As a salesperson, you will spend a lot of time working on your own. However, coworkers are vital to your success. Steve Jobs knew it as well when he spoke with ‘60 Minutes’ in 2003…
“Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.”
Can you succeed without cultivating your coworkers? Sure, but working closely with them and fostering relationships will greatly multiply your efforts and make you more money. And while I generally try not to be an ass, I don’t always succeed. But I learned early on in my sales career that going the extra mile when dealing with coworkers will lead to greater success. Much greater!
The past few years have seen a dynamic shift in the workplace, especially with the rise of remote work. People feel less connected to their company and their coworkers than ever before.
Praising your coworkers goes beyond being a good human being. There are drugs involved! When a person receives praise or a compliment, it starts a chemical chain reaction. The brain’s hypothalamus (don’t worry…I had to look it up too) is triggered and begins to produce dopamine.
When I was working on the final part of onboarding a new client, there was always paperwork that needed to be filled out by my Accounting department (W9s, Security Questionnaires, etc.). Because I was always friendly with those team members, I usually didn’t have to wait long to get stuff filled out and returned.
I invested in my relationships with my coworkers, and it continually paid off. As a weapons-grade smartass, I always sought ways to joke around with everyone. It doesn’t take much to brighten someone’s day. People love to be acknowledged, even if it takes the form of good-natured ribbing.
We also had an internal Kudos Channel where everyone could give props and highlight something a particular employee did recently. I always had my special take on Kudos. First, I would head to Google Translate and enter in ‘kudos’ and some obscure language like Maltese.
Then I would title the post “Awguri for Paul.” I wrote about the great thing Paul did and how it impacted the company. Many times my posts were grandiose, so in the end, each kudos accomplished three things:
They were educational (readers learned a new language each time)
They were informative (readers learned about what their coworker did)
They were humorous (my smartass spin)
Share the wealth!
Typically salespeople are the highest-paid people in a company, so it doesn’t hurt to share the wealth once in a while. My favorite currency was Amazon gift cards. You can choose any amount and deliver them immediately via email or text. After you sign a client, consider tipping the coworkers who were instrumental in helping land them.
Share in good times and bad.
One of the secrets to sales (and life in general) is the impact a person can make during bad times. It’s easy to be happy and do the right thing when stuff is going right; it’s a whole other story when stuff goes wrong.
Stuff going wrong in my case was typically our company Help Desk and the sales engineers. Help Desk is like Lost Luggage at the airport—the place where no one is in a good mood when they call. It’s a tough gig and often a thankless job, especially if the customer is being a jerk. The sales engineers also dealt with angry customers. These two parts of our company were the epitome of every day going wrong. If I had a customer or prospect with an issue and someone from the Help Desk went above and beyond to help, I’d shoot them a $25 gift card. If a sales engineer overcame a difficult issue in record time, I made sure to reward them just as quickly.
Another time, right after I signed a significant client, we found out they had a major event planned two months away (normally, planning takes 6 months). We wanted to make sure this happened, and many people, including executives, were pulled in to make it happen. I made sure to tip everyone. The purpose was to show my appreciation to everyone, including the big bosses. It created a lot of goodwill for the rest of my career, especially when I would bring my own problems or opportunities that were out of the norm.
You can also make insignificant gestures that can make a great impact. A simple $10 Starbucks card or offer to pay off someone’s speeding tickets (eh…that might not be insignificant) can go a long way. I got hurt one time, and it initially looked pretty bad. A coworker sent me cases of PopTarts, and I was forever indebted to her!
I also periodically showed my support in a way that had nothing to do with money or gift cards. I would go to bat for a coworker if a customer or prospect was being rough on one of my fellow employees.
Always apologize.
Spoiler Alert! You’re going to make mistakes. Everyone does, not just newbies. I made two in my last year at my job. Actually, I only made one mistake that year; the other was where I thought I was wrong but wasn’t, so technically, that was the mistake…but I digress. When you make a mistake, own up to it and apologize. Trying to deny you screwed up just makes you look bad. People know everyone makes mistakes; how you act afterward is the difference between being respected or being considered a tool everyone hates.
I share these examples so you will be on the lookout for ways to reward and acknowledge your coworkers. We spend more of our waking hours with our coworkers than with our family. Telling them that you respect their work and appreciate what they do is a no-brainer.
When I retired at the end of November 2022, I shared a long goodbye message with my company and my coworkers. I talked about how my job allowed me to rebuild my life and do so many great things for others. I also told them it wasn’t just me but a team effort. Then I called out dozens of them and mentioned a special moment I remembered about our time together. These moments changed my life, so why not tell the people who played a part in it and let them know what they mean to me.
Happy Selling!